Hey You
by JerBearThompson
Summary: 'Where did you go? It doesn't matter. You're back now.' - Post COE, but not a fix-it.


**Title:** Hey You  
**Author:** **jerbearthompson**  
**Rating: **G  
**Warning: **Post COE – but not a fix-it.  
**Characters:** Jack/Ianto  
**Summary:** _'Where did you go? It doesn't matter. You're back now.'_  
**Disclaimer:** I take no credit for the mess they made it.

**Notes:** I didn't mean to write this. I wrote it by accident, really. Ever since I listened to the song "Hey" by GUD (who is an Australian comedy trio but with some marvelously deep songs), I couldn't quite quench the urge not the write this. It's late, and it might not make sense. Shortness ensues. P.S Does anyone else realte the song "The Last Day On Earth" by Kate Miller-Heidke to Children of Earth?

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_Hey you, where did you go, long ago? _

.

'Hey you,' Jack smiled as he groggily opened his eyes. 'You've been gone a while. I was starting to doubt if you'd come back. I've been keeping your place warm, though.'

He obligatory rolled over in the bed, shivering slightly at the cold sheets that made up the other half. 'Kept it warm but you can have it back now. Come on, please, I'm cold.'

Jack breathed out heavily and curled his legs up a bit tighter beneath him. 'Where did you go?' He paused a moment. 'It doesn't matter. You're back now.'

He slept.

.

_Oh the worlds came between us and I'm feeling sure of your love. _

.

'Stop,' Jack commanded of the warm air that tickled the back of his neck. 'Stop that.'

He laughed softly, turning his face further into the pillow to muffle his chuckles. 'You're silly,' he murmured, reaching blindly behind him. 'And completely mad. Love you.'

For a while there was just silence, accompanied by shallow breathing. Then Jack laughed again. 'Yes, so many worlds. We're on one right now, we're…' He frowned, obviously noticing something wrong in his sentence. 'You have to go home, though. We both do. I'll get you home someday, I promise.'

He wouldn't remember.

.

_You know, if you ease on back, you let the fever go. _

.

He was sick of his bed. Today he wanted to be outside, feel the breeze in his hair and the sand under his feet. It had been too long since he'd found a good roof to stand on, but he figured given his current whereabouts the cliff was the closest thing he could get.

'You're so quiet,' he commented, wind ruffling his hair. 'Quieter than you used to be.'

What happened? Why are you quiet? Did I do something? Is something wrong? Where do you keep disappearing to? Why did you go? Why did you come back? Are you even here?

Jack sighed. So many questions running through his mind, and only one thing to say.

'I'm glad you're here.'

.

_It's only right that I should let you know, what you should know. _

.

'It's been a rough week.' Jack stared blankly at the ceiling, tossing the ball up and catching it thrice before continuing. 'It's better now, though. You make it better.'

Jack threw the ball again, caught it sharply and turned over. 'You should know… you have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. I'm sorry, that sounded a little prudish.'

He blinked lazily a few times, a smile tugging at his lips. 'Hey mate, nice eyes. Now that sounded a little Australian, didn't it?'

He broke out into a genuine smile. 'I'm stalling, aren't I? I just wanted to say… I love you. That's all. Just that. Simple.'

Jack cried.

.

_I have been waiting all my life for you to come home._

.

'I didn't think you were coming back,' Jack hiccupped, voice raw and hoarse. 'Not this time, not after that…' He scrambled forward on his knees, clutching at dark trousers. 'Thank you. Thank you for coming back. I've been waiting… for you, I… just…'

Jack broke off, a silent sob overcoming him. 'I didn't think you were coming home this time.'

For the next hour, Jack sat rocking himself and occasionally hiccupping before falling asleep, still clutching the dark material.

He woke up alone.

.

_Now the feeling's coming back, we lose from time to time. _

.

'He looked like you. He was so… pretty.'

Jack giggled. Actually _giggled_, with his hands over his mouth and a delirious grin plastered across his face. 'He was pretty, but…' Jack frowned. 'He wasn't you. And so I didn't… I couldn't… nothing happened. I ran away, I did.'

He frowned again, looking down at his hands, spread out large against his thighs. 'He wasn't you. I didn't want that, I didn't want mixed memories. I didn't want him in this, what was just you and I… But he looked like you.'

Jack pressed his fingers to his forehead. 'I'm sorry I made you leave. Come back?'

His plea was met with silence.

_._

_Another mess of language strung out across a line. _

.

'Love is a funny thing. It's the fifth most used word in the galaxy, you know that?' Jack looked up from his fork and squinted. 'I love you.'

A slow smile spread out across his face as he listened to the reply. 'It doesn't matter, I'm saying it now. I love you. And I'm glad you came with me. Ishnu vok gharyn huru kopur. Rel veart?'

He didn't even realise he'd slipped into another language until he noticed the stares of the others at the table.

'Sorry,' he said quietly. 'I meant… I just wanted to say…'

Jack ate the rest of his food in silence.

.

_All of us just craving for another perfect day. _

.

'The cartoons aren't the same up here. Do you want to throw a ball outside? I used to do it all the time as a kid… with my dad, my brother…'

Jack sighed, his mind still miles away as he put the remote down and wandered outside. 'Play with me.'

If he even noticed that he had to go and collect the ball himself each time he threw it, it never showed on his face.

.

_We stretch out for the starlight with words clouding the way. _

.

'The Bee Gees once sang "_It's only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away._" Of course, they'd never heard of a Therysterin Pyrosaur before. Not that it matters, it was the sentiment that was important.'

He stopped, staring straight ahead. When he could breathe again, and he looked down at his shoes.

'I'm stalling. There's… there's so much I want to say to you, while you're still here, but… the words, they're…' Jack sighed. 'Words are just getting in the way.'

He wrung his hands nervously. 'I wrote to you, you know? While you were away. They said it would help, but… It didn't, not really. It's not the same as having you here. I think I was so used to you being around, I didn't even notice you were a part of me until you… left.

'I waited. I keep telling you that, I don't think you understand quite how long for. A lifetime. Your lifetime. I waited. Please stay this time.'

.

_Hey you, I've been waiting all my life for you to come home. _

.

The nurses watched Jack silently as he talked to himself again. He was having more and more lucid days as of late, but he still resorted to his imagination every now and then.

Still, it was an improvement from twenty-five years ago when he had first showed up, a ghost consistently tagging around after him. He talked to it joyously, argued with it and often tried to cuddle up to it in his small white-linen bed. They never tried to stop him, it made him happy. Few things did that these days.

'Do you think he'll ever let go?' one of the nurses asked.

'One day,' another replied. 'I think he's still waiting for an answer to his…'

'Some kind of acknowledgement,' a third agreed. 'Do you think it's because he didn't say it before… it happened?'

'Maybe,' shrugged the first one. 'But personally, I think he' still in denial. Watch him, he's not delirious. He's just waiting.'

'He's in love.'

Oblivious to these words, Jack sat in the psych ward tapping his fingers against his knee in a steady pattern. After a moment, his eyes lit up and he smiled.

'There you are, I've been waiting for you. I wondered where you'd got to, I didn't get to tell you last time, what I worked up all the courage to say. I love you, Ianto.


End file.
